PRSRT STD U.S. Postage Paid Permit No. 746 Seattle, WA
VOL 33 NO 15
APRIL 5 – APRIL 11, 2014
FREE
32 YEARS YOUR VOICE
BLOG High art at the Wing » P. 10
Mayor faces ethnic media
By Sue Misao Northwest Asian Weekly
About a dozen reporters attended a press conference given by Mayor Ed Murray for local and regional ethnic media at Seattle City Hall on April 1. Here, seated at the table, from left, are Jenny Kung and Andrea Hu from AATV, Fitsum Tsefamariam from Daero, and Gustavo Montoya from El Mundo.
Photo courtesy of CRPF
Raising funds for $21 million reconciliation park is not easy
Art in the Chinese Reconciliation Park
Seattle symposium focuses on increasing the minimum wage By James Tabafunda NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY While the cost of living and CEO compensation packages continue to rise, many Washington state workers find their paychecks unchanged from the minimum wage of $9.32/ hour. In San Francisco, $10.74/ hour is the minimum wage, and in Washington, D.C., it will be $11.50/hour by 2016. Seattle Mayor Ed Murray wants a meaningful pay raise for city employees and “to find a
solution so that every worker in Seattle earns a living wage for their work.” The one-day Income Inequality Symposium on March 27 at Seattle University provided a public forum on the growing income gap, or what President Obama called the “defining challenge of our time.” The event’s first plenary, “Understanding the Problem,” dealt with questions such as what {see MINIMUM WAGE cont’d on page 12}
Photo by James Tabafunda/NWAW
{see ETHNIC MEDIA cont’d on page 15}
Photo by Sue Misao/NWAW
Seattle Mayor Ed Murray called members of ethnic media to City Hall for a half-hour press conference on April 1, to discuss issues facing their immigrant and minority readers. Coincidentally, it was the 119th anniversary of the very day the mayor’s own grandfather came to America, he said, evoking his immigrant roots. Murray took questions from about a dozen reporters from AATV, the Korean Daily, the International Examiner, El Mundo, the North American Post, Daero, Seattle Chinese Times, the Northwest Asian Weekly, Seattle
Yen Lam, left, owner of Lam’s Seafood Market, and Taylor Hoang, owner of Pho Cyclo Café, attended the symposium to learn more about the effect of $15/hour on small businesses.
efforts to raise Recent awareness and funding for the Tacoma Chinese Garden and Reconciliation Park have brought the project back into the city’s consciousness. The park, located on North Schuster Parkway, was initiated in 1991 by local philanthropist and citizen Dr. David Murdock. {see RECONCILIATION PARK cont’d on page 12}
Photo by Sue Misao/NWAW
By Vivian Nguyen Northwest Asian Weekly
OSO RELIEF — Faye Hong, surrounded local leaders in the Chinese Community, representatives, Lt. Gov. Brad Owens, Bellevue City Councilmember Conrad Lee, and others, presents a check for $16,888 to the United Way of Snohomish County at a ceremony in Hing Hay Park on April 2. It only took five days for Seattle’s Chinese Community to raise the money, which will go to United Way’s Disaster Recovery Fund for Mudslide Relief.
The Inside Story NAMES Movers, shakers, mixers » P. 2
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WORLD Polio-free India » P. 5
ON THE SHELF Memoirs & life stories » P. 8
ASTROLOGY What’s in your future? » P. 13
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